Outed Pastor Stays in Pulpit

An antigay Lutheran pastor who was outed in an undercover report in Lavender Magazine will likely keep his job.

Lutheran officials do not seem angry with the Reverend Tom Brock, despite his regular attendance at a gay support group, according to the Associated Press.

A reporter from Lavender Magazine outed Brock because the magazine staff believed he behaved hypocritically. Brock is a regular on local cable circuits in Minnesota and preaches frequently against gay relationships. He is affiliated with Minneapolis's Hope Lutheran Church, which last year left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over its acceptance of partnered gay clergy and joined the Associated of Free Lutheran Congregations.

"This company has a policy not to out people," Lavender president Stephen Rocheford said in the AP article. "The one exception is a public figure who says one thing and does another."

Conservative Lutheran officials support Brock because he attends a gay support group and remains celibate.

Hope Lutheran's executive pastor, the Reverend Tom Parrish, told the Associated Press Brock has "been attending this Christian group, both going there and being honest about temptations he has, and is being held accountable so he never would do anything with that temptation."

The Lavender Magazine reporter saw Brock at a meeting of Faith in Action, the Minnesota division of the Roman Catholic Church's Courage program, which seeks to help people "struggling" with unwanted same-sex attraction.